A Most Unusual Girl Pt. 06

After the meal Joann looked at them, "You guys are amazing, you've come so far in such a short time."

Teds answer caught we three off guard, "Our relationship is amazing because she's amazing."

Karen had been clearing the table, after hearing his response she grabbed his chin, kissed him and tried whispering so we couldn't hear, "You are gonna get soooo screwed tonight."

As she looked up we were smiling, she knew she'd been overheard and giggled a little bit as she went about her business. Once we had solidified the plans for our double wedding we sat and basically talked about the holidays in general, Joann excitedly telling them we'd bought a cabin and they were welcome to use it anytime we weren't once the remodeling was finished. Leaving there around ten we meandered home in no particular hurry, Jo wanted to make love without little ears in the house. I obliged, we woke in time to get ready for church, piled into the 500, picked up Syd and the girls and made our way to church.

The next few weeks were a whirlwind of activity, there were several nights when I would wake with ideas for the book and get up to write, Jo came into the office one of the first mornings at around three AM wondering why I wasn't in bed. When I explained I tended to write when the inspiration hit me and that it had nothing to do with her she sleepily made her way back to bed. I had agreed to pull the rented trailer for Syd at the end of the month, we would be staying overnight at Joann's great grandmothers, 94 and still living on her own until Syd moved back home. The girls wanted to ride with gram which suited us fine, Jo and I had plenty of time to talk without interruptions.

I was apprehensive about meeting her family, I wasn't at all sure how they would respond to me not being black, it was foolish thinking, but it was still in the back of my mind. As we pulled into the driveway her grannie as everyone called her, was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch. Looking at her silver hair and frail stature I instantly thought of Cicely Tyson in some of the rolls she had played as an old woman, they could have been sisters. She didn't rise, the little girls were very cautious and tender with her as they hugged, when it came time for Jo to introduce me she stood, I softly took her hand and greeted her. She smiled and motioned for us to go inside.

Supper was done, the girls were playing and the adults sat at the table chatting. Grannie spoke in that old southern style, looking at Joann she signaled toward me with her hand.

"This be yo man then? He sho be a tall one. How you meet him?"

Jo gave her the short version and then proceeded to tell her of her first ever white Christmas. When she was done Grannie looked at me.

"When you gon make dis yo woman permanent. Like wit a ring."

Now it was my turn to smile, "We're getting married Valentine Day, we'd love to have you be there."

"Unh-uh, too fah fo dis ol lady, I be there in spirit. What you do Mr. Luke?"

"I write books. Romance novels."

The look she gave me was one that I couldn't quite place. Joann spoke to her.

"He's really very good at it Grannie, he takes very good care of the girls and me."

Her next comment put us both back in our seats, "I bet he aint good as dat Miss Ellie James, now dat girl can write a book bout lova's."

I looked at Jo begging with my eyes not to tell her I was Ellie James, thankfully she got my message. The table was cleared, dishes were loaded into the washer and we were having a cup of coffee when the garage entry door burst open, a huge, I mean huge, man came in and scowled at me first, then Joann.

"What the hell is a white boy doing in this house?" He bellowed.

Syd stood, pointed a finger at him and told him to hush. Then she looked at me,

"This is my younger brother Elvis, he's basically a horse's ass on his good days, the rest of the time he's just a miserable piece of humanity." Looking back at him she continued. "This is Joann's fiancé and you're going to treat him with respect or you can leave. He loves those girls like they're his own and takes good care of Joann, you can accept this for what it is or get the hell out."

My mind is saying *only a sister gets away with talking to him like that* anyone else would have been mincemeat. He backed down, wouldn't shake my hand or acknowledge me but he was no longer hostile either. He stayed a short while and left, we saw him the next morning at church where I offered to have him join us for brunch, Joann and my treat. He would have none of it saying he didn't need nobody's charity. I wanted to be pissed, my bride to be could tell and took my arm as we walked.

"Let it go Luke, he's an ass. We'll have a meal with Grannie and mom, then we'll pick up our stuff and go home. Come on lover, I'm hungry."

We went to Grannie's where we loaded our duds, hugged on Grannie and Syd, then left for home. Elvis was going to take the trailer to U-Haul Monday morning, at least he was doing something to help his sister. The ride home was long and quiet, the girls were doing what they seem to do best when in the car, watch a video and fall asleep. Jo dozed off and on almost the entire way. When she was awake we talked a little about Elvis, I was curious as to why he was so bitter. Jo answered as best she could.

"He wasn't always like this. When he came back from Iraq him and another vet in town pooled their money and opened a small engine repair shop which went along well until they landed a contract with a major manufacturer. The potential for big money was there, in the end Elvis got screwed out of his half of the business, happens all the time, unfortunately his partner was white which made it all the worse. At first it was hate whitey, it should have been hate Reggie instead of all white people, but it wasn't. Now he just hates everybody except mama, grannie and his girls. He tolerates me."

He didn't look or sound as though he wasn't successful, I was confused. "He doesn't look like he goes without, surely he must do something that's rewarding."

"Oh, that's just it, he's very successful and while he isn't what one might call wealthy, he lacks for nothing, neither he nor his girls and their families."

I chuckled, "How can somebody that grumpy have a business? I'll bet he's a real charm on sales calls. What does he do?"

"Somewhere along the way he learned how to sharpen blades and other tools, he's turned that knowledge into a business that supports all the Southeast, focusing on carbide but they'll sharpen anything. One of their *gotchas* is that they'll ship it back to you at no cost, if you get it to them, they'll cover return shipping."

"Like I said, he must be a real charm to deal with."

"The girls don't let him out of the office, or in the shop and certainly not calling on future or present customers. His wife passed when they were in their teens, Tanya the oldest worked for him during high school and went full time when she graduated, Shawna the younger went to school for bookkeeping and hired on as soon as she graduated from tech. The company needs Elvis input, but those girls keep him on a short leash. It really is kind of sad, with five grandkids his life could be so much more exciting if he wasn't such a dick."

After getting the girls down she wanted to play, after all she'd slept most of the way home and was raring to go. I wasn't saying no but at the same time I wasn't acting very enthusiastically either. While I was checking e-mails she walked out of the office, how she returned five minutes later changed my mind instantly. Standing in the doorway she was dressed in only a white sheer robe covering matching panties and bra. Looking at me seductively she opened the robe enough for me to see the open nipple bra.

I lost my breath, "Oh my God Jo, you're killin me, how could any red blooded man not be moved by that? You're a naughty girl, the white contrasting with your brown skin is very inviting."

"Then come beat the inside of my pussy with your love stick, be sure to deposit some of your special love salve when you're finished."

She spun and walked to our bedroom as I shut down the computer and scrambled to the bedroom, lying on the bed she beckoned me with her finger as I stripped. Opening her robe, I immediately had a taught nipple in my mouth, lowering my hand between her legs I realized they were crotchless panties, my cock throbbed and wanted to pound that pussy as long as I could last. I wanted to please her even more, after sucking both nipples I lowered my face to her protruding mound, her swollen labia were poking through the opening and seemed to be calling my name.

By the time I'd brought her to the third climax she pushed me away squeezing her thighs tight together while on her side and moaning. Her body shook and jerked another minute or more before she flopped flat on her back, legs spread wide, knees bent, hungry for cock. And that's exactly what she called for.

In her smoky gravel voice she told me what she wanted, "Cock, I need your cock. I need you to pound my pussy until I scream, then I want you to cum so hard that I feel every squirt against my cervix. Get up here and fuck me dammit, give me that meat."

What I didn't find out until a month or more later was that she'd gone off the pill and was hoping to be pregnant soon. I had imagined seeing her with a tiny baby bump that I would rub and kiss, then getting bigger and bigger until her tummy stuck out full of baby. In my dream I would tell her how beautiful she was, how I loved the radiance she exuded, how excited I would be when our baby was born. Darkness covered us as we lay with our bodies exhausted but in a good way, my dick was sore, she told me she was swollen and tender. I whispered to her.

"You told me to fuck you hard."

"Mmmm, and you did baby, you gave mama all she wanted and then some. Thank you, you're so good to me. Would you like me to wear that bra some day when the girls are at school, I kinda liked the way you attacked my nipples."

I teared up, thankful the lights weren't on, "You're the one who's good to me. Don't plan on getting any work done if you wear that bra during the day, I'll have you on your back with your feet in the air all day."

She turned and kissed me, "You say the sweetest things."

The double wedding went off without a hitch, Karen had found a small church where the pastor would do the ceremony, as a part of our portion the minister asked not only Joann if she took me as her husband but also asked the girls if they took me as their dad. When I put Jo's ring on, I also knelt and put their rings on at the same time. The reception was held in the fellowship room of the church, Ted, Karen, Joann and I had hired a caterer to serve the meal, that way it was done, no cleanup for anyone, everyone could relax and have a good time.

To our great surprise Grannie did come along with Syd and of all people, Elvis. He actually shook my hand, didn't utter a word to me but at least he shook my hand. Someone asked about a honeymoon destination, Jo told them right at home in our bedroom. People offered to take the girls, Joann declined saying they had school the next day and she needed to be there for them. In our marital bed she asked me to go slow, her final words were,

"Fuck a baby in me."

I thought it was erotic and bedroom talk, little did I know how serious she was. Aristocrat had been edited and was ready for print the same time as our wedding, the finished copy hit the market the first week in March and was an instant success, including overseas sales we sold over eleven thousand copies the first day. That toppled my old record of eight thousand when I put out My Perfect Valentine eighteen months prior. Joann had completed new artwork for another two on my best sellers, The Summer of 1969 and Dating Miss Florence, we decided to issue a new release of those two in April.

Life was happy for us, we seldom encountered anything along the lines of racial issues when in public, oh sure, there were the occasional stares or things muttered under their breath but nothing blatant. When things like that occurred, we chalked it up to ignorance and went out merry way. Knut and Kasper had been diligently working on the cabin providing us with regular progress reports, we had done as Joann suggested putting down a large down payment and mortgaging the rest, with the increased sales we were on our way to having it paid off within a year. Yes, there was money in long term investments but why draw from those and pay penalties if it wasn't necessary, we were doing just fine as we were.

Joann was becoming more and more antsy about starting a graphic arts business, my concern was that our city already had a plethora of people printing signs and vinyl banners, why duplicate what was already there? We decided on another approach, she would offer artwork only for printed materials as well as books. The sale of online books was strong, the number of beginning authors was huge and there were few publishers willing to print these books at a reasonable price. Had it not been for Mr. Harrelson when I began it would have cost me thousands to get a mere two hundred and fifty printed, with his knowledge of copyrighting, ISBN numbers and the rest that went along with a book I was able to launch my career without a mountain of debt.

Her ambitions and my thoughts were beginning to mesh, I had long thought about and envisioned printing my own books. There are machines for sale that will not only print on bright white paper, they'll do the entire process from beginning to end including a glossy cover. They're expensive as hell but they are available, I'd been looking at one in particular in the one hundred fifty thousand dollar range, it only required a seven by five foot area and could produce our entire inventory, if we had the story on a computer, we could print it.

As we brainstormed and did our homework, we found a bookstore on the west coast who owned the machine we were considering, after talking with them at length on the phone we became even more enthused. They were printing books for people on the spot, mostly cookbooks or genealogy stuff along with non-fiction at a cost of eight to ten dollars per book. Considering books by authors with a good following were selling in the eleven to fifteen-dollar range we determined we could increase the profit margin on our books by more than thirty five percent.

The bookstore printing at eight to ten per copy was obviously making a profit, when we took into account the possible income from new authors wanting their books printed the projected income was substantial. We also looked in to doing E sales choosing not to, our paperback sales were our bread and butter, better to concentrate on that aspect. There would be another upside if we purchased our own machine, while I was getting a discount from Harrelson it wasn't as low as if I printed my own and there would be no time delay.

After a few days and evenings kicking the idea around I decided I needed to talk to my money man and see what kind of hit I would take on penalties if I withdrew money from a long term investment, buying the machine outright. His name is Jerome, a super nerd from my high school days and has a God given ability to make money with everything he touches. After looking at our cashflow, our obligations for the cabin and income he suggested we buy it through the company's lease program which carried no penalty for pre-payment. I had an investment due to be renewed in seven months, take what we needed out of that fund without a penalty, pay the taxes on it and pay off the machine.

We didn't even need to discuss it any further, that was the way to go, after a week of phone calls and bank info we signed the contract adding onsite training for an additional twelve hundred dollars plus his travel and lodging. The way we looked at it the money would be well spent, there was a Best Western a half mile from us with several restaurants within walking distance, I would deliver him to and from each day. Our thinking was that his four day stay would save us headaches and put us weeks ahead of learning from manuals alone. The tentative delivery date was mid-May, now to figure where it would go.

I had the 500 in half of the unattached two car garage with the other half as a workshop, the more she and I kicked the idea around the more we felt that it should be in an area by itself. The guy two doors down owns a construction company, when I talked to him about a separate structure, he told me he didn't have time but knew of a past employee who did small jobs like that exclusively. Ten days later the slab was poured and the shell roughed, another three days later it was dried in awaiting the electrician and plumber. The electrician set us back three days, I was wondering if we would make deadline, once he was done the rocking crew went in there and banged it out in four days.

I delayed delivery by one week, the third week of May they moved the machine in through the side double doors and had it set up by the weekend, the guy coming to teach us would be here the first week of June. Joann was disappointed that she wasn't yet pregnant, I encouraged her to be calm, now that all the stress and mayhem was settled maybe her body would be ready to conceive. The girls were done with school, with a full week before the trainer was to show up we decided to fly up and see where things were at with the cabin.

It was a thrill for Trina and Tracy, neither have ever flown before, it was only Joann's third time flying. We flew into Flint and rented a car, the cabin was all but finished, the only thing remaining was to finish the new deck. In our bedroom that night we lay talking about how much had transpired since our wedding. She had her hand on my cock stroking it hard.

"You know Luke, wouldn't it be wild if I conceived here in the cabin, I'm ovulating, let's see if we can't put a baby in my tummy."

We started doggy, switched to missionary and finished with her on her right side, left leg over my shoulder. When she came her heel dug into me with such force I wanted to slap it away, that pain was soon forgotten as I shot stream after stream of sperm into her fertile uterus. She was laughing softly.

"I can feel them fighting their way through looking for an egg, I just know I'm gonna be pregnant."

"You can't feel that, you're messing with my head."

Rubbing her foot across my chest she smiled, "No, I can't, but I sure like thinking about it."

Sadly, we only had three full days in Michigan, we made the most of them having our new friends over for an evening meal. Tilly and Jo laughed and carried on as though they were sisters, the kids played well and we men sat watching the waves of Lake Michigan crash against the shore while drinking a beer. Later in bed we lay talking about the evening and how wonderful it was to have not only a vacation home but good friends nearby. Knut's busy time was upon him and we had no way of knowing how labor intensive the print machine would be at first, we made tentative plans to see them during the Fourth of July.

I'd gotten a text from the trainer saying he'd be with us starting Tuesday instead of Monday which worked out perfect giving us a day to catch up at home and be ready on Tuesday. The girls would be at church camp the entire week allowing us to focus on learning the machine. I didn't like the guy from the moment we picked him up at the airport, mid-forties, cocky attitude and was making obvious overtures toward my wife. He like Joann was black but a much lighter color, from what I observed I didn't think he approved of our marriage. What set my hackles on end was when we dropped him at the hotel he told Jo to come visit him.

She ignored him then and the next two days. He kept making off color remarks, always wanting to touch her hand or arm or shoulder, she had asked me not to step in unless he became aggressive. She re-buffed him every time and yet he persisted until late Thursday when I was on one end of the machine and she was at the other end with him next to her. I watched the fool put his hand on her shoulder and give it a squeeze, I heard a loud SLAP just before she launched into him with venom. When she was done berating him, she immediately called the company we'd purchased the machine from, moments later she handed the phone to the tech. He was on the phone for at least ten minutes apologizing and trying to weasel his way out of the situation.